Normandy D-Day Private Tour with Omaha Beach from Paris

We wanted a full-day tour of the Normandy beaches, in a private car, with a French-speaking guide (my wife is a retired French teacher, and my French is serviceable). We got this and much more. Our guide, Emilie, picked us promptly at 6:30am in the heart of Paris (3rd arrondissement) and drove directly to the western edge of Omaha beach (where the German cemetery and Pointe du Hoc are located). We stopped along the autoroute for coffee and to stretch our legs. When we arrived at the first site, she guided us through the German cemetery explaining that the black grave markers were customary in German burial places, not a comment on the soldiers. We went next to the Pointe du Hoc, where she gave us an extensive tour of the look-out bunker and surrounding fortifications. Next, we walked along Omaha beach in the area surrounding the monuments at Vierville-sur-Mer, again with detailed explanations of what we were seeing. We took a quick lunch of sandwiches, eaten on the seawall, then continued our tour. When we got to the American cemetery (Colleville-sur-Mer), she walked us through the graves and monuments, stopping to show us General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr's grave and that of his brother, Quentin, who perished in WWI but whose grave was relocated to this cemetery and placed next to General Roosevelt's. We continued our tour on the Gold beach at Arromanches. Our last site was the preserved battery of German cannons at Longues-sur-Mer. We then headed back to Paris and arrived at our apartment precisely at 8pm, as promised. We had only one day, so we elected to keep seeing actual D-Day sites instead of visiting museums (there's one in practically every city). You might choose differently. This tour is fully customizable, including doing the research to locate the grave of any person you believe is buried at one of these cemeteries. Throughout the tour, our guide was extremely attentive to our questions and personal comfort. She spoke clearly and commented at one point that she enjoyed giving the tour in French instead of English, which is the language that most clients request. She stopped regularly at places where we could stretch our legs and use the restrooms. The car (Citroen C4) was spacious and comfortable. All-in-all, a wonderful day touring the memorials of one of the most important days of the 20th century.

The trip was amazing. It was on the eve of the 81st anniversary and it was moving. It was impressive to see how generations have kept that memory alive over 8 decades.

Jozef can tell you anything you would want to know about battles on the Normandy beaches in both WWI and WW2. He respected our time and what we were interested in. Jozef presented his responses to our questions with emotion and inflections, to make you feel as though we were hearing it for the first time.